Off Delancey Street, 4th September 2010

Gold trapped by green railings opposite my favourite pub in Camden, this was a welcome spot before a welcome pint.

It was a doomed advert for The Money Shop (cash for gold!), a sure sign of recessionary times. Three years ago I'm sure the balloons said things like "No deposit! 120% mortgages available here!", and they were made of actual gold.

Leighton Grove, 30th August 2010

If the last few were far from home, this could scarcely be closer. I'd just stepped out to the shops when a passing child shrilled "I've just found a balloon!" to her mother, and lo, she had. Her mother was pushing a pram carrying a younger sibling, and clearly didn't want to turn the entire caboodle about to pick up the discard, so I had a second or two to crouch and snap, while the young family looked on nonplussed.

On most such occasions, when I return the balloon has gone or burst or most likely both. This time, surprisingly, three warm late summer hours later, it was still sat in the same spot, as if it were a Koons metal sculpture, immune to wind and pricks.

River Thames, near Royal Windsor Racecourse, 29th August 2010

My own first for a while, having lived on unexpected generosity for weeks. This was not as far from home as the last, but a different world nonetheless - snapped departing a lock on a bank holiday weekend pootle down the river on an old schoolfriend's family's riverboat. We were heading back at this stage, having passed through the same lock far more sober and with a functional boat some hours previously. In the inter-lock time it broke down mid-stream while under my erratic and uncontrolled charge, and had to be towed from its ersatz mooring to a riverside willow to a real berth, before we could coax its hot engine home.

The sun shone on our lunch, our repairs and this photo. In between each, it poured cold and hard.

Petit Valley, Trinidad & Tobago, 12th August 2010

And this is the most distant to date - thanks Luna! It was one of those "isn't the internet amazing?" moments - a random find leads to a comment from afar, and a few weeks later, in her own words:

"I merged onto the highway, there it was: a happy pink balloon try to pull and tug its way free from whatever snagged its string. I pulled over and put my hazard lights on, then switched them off, thinking that the blinking lights just might make some kind person stop to offer assistance to a girl who appeared to be need of it. Sure enough, a few cars slowed down as I walked back toward the balloon, but thankfully this was past rush hour and not many cars were about."

So I get to stick a pin in the map in Petit Valley, some 7120-something kilometres from home. Brilliant. Luna added that it made her morning. I'm glad - I'm still smiling now.

Earlsfield Road, 27th July 2010

Bought pink for some proud brother; lost, snagged, and snapped and sent by an amused sister. Many thanks!

Shoreham Canal, 17th July 2010

I received this by phone while I was many miles from Shoreham, which is always a joy. Several people have sent balloons in over the past few years, but this is the first from my mother. She must be very proud.

Charing Cross Road, 11th July 2010

And two more two hours later! This pair must have had a common origin, as they moved together across the teeming northern side of Trafalgar Square, and if more proof were needed, they were both marked with a similar sticker. Their fates differed though. The red rolled on a metre or two and was picked up by a man on a scooter, stopped at the lights. The blue bounced a bit further north, and was popped loudly under the wheels of a Volvo.

River Thames, from Hungerford footbridge, 11th July 2010

The tide must have been racing in, as this yellow was moving west against a pretty stiff breeze blowing the other way. The bridge was crowded and I was far from alone in snapping, but most of the other photographers were shooting downwind, one of the best views in central London. This side has tracks and metalwork and a silty shaded river beneath, which would be unremarkable but for the balloon.

From Holland Park Avenue, from 31 bus, 3rd July 2010

Has it really been five years? Oh yes. An anniversary balloon then, high and getting higher above a hot and sunny Westfield, which didn't exist when the thistle-trapped initiator was casually snapped. Anniversaries are often cause for looking forward as well as back - will there be posts in July 2015? 2020? What would compel me to close this blog? I can't imagine.

Buck Street, from 214 bus, 2nd June 2010

Yes he did kick it. No it didn't pop.

Kingsland Road, 26th June 2010

A rare thing and always a delight, a gifted balloon. The whole car-stopping escapade a couple of weeks before had clearly piqued her interest. This was rolling down a road out east, where she was attending a friend's wedding. By her own admission she felt a bit daft snapping what is to most people a pretty drab and unremarkable urban scene, but I'm very glad she did.

Camden High Street, 23rd June 2010

A rather pleasing colour arrangement on a rather tatty stretch of road, spotted on a new commute home. Oddly the balloon had a small pair of nubs, so when inflated it may have looked like a blue Mickey, but half-full and flaccid it more resembled some sort of sorry udder.

West End Lane, 11th June 2010

Make that four in four! I was leaving for work when I saw this, and rushed to snap it before its doom came under the wheels of a truck. But it had a reprieve - it passed right under it and the car behind, and was still rolling about when I got on the bus.

After the patriotic red below I was half-expecting a glut of World Cup balloons, and this was the first day of the tournament. But I couldn't think of a side whose colours are pale blue, I'd certainly not seen any flags in that colour, so I considered this just a random.

Off West End Lane, 10th June 2010

Three in three days, a rare thing. I'd seen this one before but in red and next to a World Cup-inspired flag I took it for part of the decoration. When I passed a second time, though, it had blown clear of them, and was rolling about on the lawn alone. It won't still be there, I'm sure, when the national team's doom comes and the flags are taken in in sorrow.

Off Carlton Vale, 9th June 2010

I wasn't expecting to get this. I spotted it from a car on the way home from work, a rare lift from my workmate and temporary landlady. I mentioned it with glee tinged with resignation as we swept past on the roundabout, but she indulged me, bless her, and pulled over nearby, allowing me to run back and snap it before we continued home.

You know who your friends are when they stop cars for balloons, but I knew she was long before that. She's not to be a landlady for much longer though, as a flat seen a few hours earlier passed muster. I wonder how Kentish Town will fare for balloons.

Abbey Road, 8th June 2010

A pretty sorry example in the midst of some roadworks. I was meant to be speeding past this spot on a bus, but more significant roadworks on West End Lane had led to an ugly tailback all the way to here and beyond, so I'd just left the bus in frustration to continue on foot. The jam was threatening to make me late for a viewing on a flat in West Hampstead. Walking, I beat the bus and made it. I didn't take the flat though - the agent's description was a bald and shameful lie: the "private garden" was shared. Grr...

From Long Acre, 16th May 2010

You wouldn't know it from these sunny bookends, but in the short hour or so between this and the last there was a torrential spring downpour that left the streets slick and reflective and sent Sunday shoppers scurrying for cover. This cluster shot up to the west and my first shot was blinded by the sun, but it drifted with the weather eastwards above me and stayed low enough for a good view.

River Thames, from Waterloo Bridge, 16th May 2010

I spotted this one from a bus on a painfully slow journey north from visiting friends in the far-flung south-east of London, and having failed to snap it from the top deck, hopped off at the next stop in the hope it would still be there. The current wasn't strong and the wind wasn't either, so it was. I had the luxury of a few shots as it moved erratically eastwards near the northern shore, but the ducks and boat made this my favourite.